Jim McAlister can now see the funny side of his extraordinarily quick sending-off against Celtic but is hoping it has not left him back down the pecking order at Hamilton.
After coming on as substitute against Celtic at New Douglas Park last week, the former Morton player was red-carded by referee Willie Collum after less than a minute for a crunching tackle on Hoops defender Mark Wilson.
"I can laugh about it now but at the time it wasn't very funny," he said.
The 25-year-old has struggled to make his mark at the Lanarkshire club since signing last summer and only recently came back in to Billy Reid's plans after four months on the sidelines.
After being banned for the defeat to Rangers at Ibrox last weekend, McAlister is in the squad for the trip to Inverness and is determined to make amends for his dismissal - if he gets the chance.
He said: "At the time I felt I had let the club, my team-mates and my manager down. The gaffer told me to keep my head up and there has been good banter from my team-mates.
"Things like that happen in football unfortunately and 90% of professionals will get a red card at some point in their career but for me it was just unfortunate circumstances the way it happened.
"With the amount of injuries that we had going to Ibrox maybe I would have got my chance. I got in the team for the first couple of games at the start of the season and then wasn't involved for a few months but it wasn't for the lack of trying.
"I've started to get involved again and hopefully the Celtic game hasn't affected that.
"And if I can get some time against Inverness then hopefully I can repay the gaffer and then push on and try to cement a place in the team."
Source: PA
